5 Must Read ‘Spicy’ Books

As I open my email from my son’s teacher, giving us the list of Summer Reading Books he will get to pick from, my brain begins to stress. There was nothing I disliked more than having to read a book I had no interest in over my summer break. How is it a break if I am being forced to read and forced to read something that puts me to sleep?

School reading turned me into a non-lover of books. To the dismay of many of my friends who just love themselves a good book, I needed something to catch my attention right away, and something easy to follow. Twilight, The Hunger Games, and the Divergent Series were my shining light into loving books again. They were easy reads and kept my attention.

Then out comes the Fifty Shades Series. I got peer pressured into reading it, and phew girl, it was spicy. I read them in like two days, I was hooked. Well, what other books out there are like this? I apparently love a good smut book and come to find out, I am late to the party because the list is a long one.

While everyone has their favorites, these are my top five if you are wanting to add a little spice to your relationship.

1. The Dark Love Series (Kat T. Masen)

Chasing Love is Book 1 of this series. A forbidden love story about fate, heartache, and second chances.

“He was my best friend’s older brother. My first love, who left without so much as a goodbye. Eight years later, I’ve said yes to marrying another man-the ever-so-perfect Julian Baker. I’m finally ready to let go of my past for a new future. But like all gut-wrenching love triangles, my past and future collide in a cruel twist of fate. Inside a busy restaurant, he’s sitting at the table next to me wearing a jealous stare. And I’m forced to face the man who destroyed my heart in high school. Lex Edwards, now billionaire tycoon, won’t back down easily. He’s ruthless, cunning, and no longer the sweet and loving college graduate studying to become a doctor. Just like me, our tumultuous affair broke him. But now, he is hell-bent on winning me back. And Lex Edwards will stop at nothing to prove just how powerful our love is, even if it means we need to relive the past…” 

2. It Ends With Us (Colleen Hoover)

“Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up – she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good to be true. Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating” rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place. As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan – her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.”

3. The Crossfire Series (Sylvia Day)

Bared to You is Book 1 of this series. Christian Grey who?

“Gideon Cross came into my life like lightning in the darkness…He was beautiful and brilliant, jagged and white-hot. I was drawn to him as I’d never been to anything or anyone in my life. I craved his touch like a drug, even knowing it would weaken me. I was flawed and damaged, and he opened those cracks in me so easily…Gideon knew. He had demons of his own. And we would become the mirrors that reflected each other’s most private wounds…and desires. The bonds of his love transformed me, even as I prayed that the torment of our pasts didn’t tear us apart…”

4. Verity (Colleen Hoover)

“Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish. Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity’s notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn’t expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity’s recollection of the night her family was forever altered. Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents could devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen’s feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife’s words. After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue loving her.”

5. The Ravenhood Series (Kate Stewart)

Flock is Book 1 of this series. Can you keep a secret?

“I grew up sick.⁣ Let me clarify: I grew up believing that real love stories include a martyr or demand great sacrifice to be worthy.⁣ Because of that, I believed it, because I made myself believe it, and I bred the most masochistic of romantic hearts, which resulted in my illness.⁣ When I lived this story, my own twisted fairy tale, it was unbeknownst to me at the time because I was young and naïve. I gave into temptation and fed the beating beast, which grew thirstier with every slash, every strike, every blow.⁣ Triple Falls wasn’t at all what it seemed, nor were the men that swept me under their wing. But in order to keep them, I had to be in on their secrets.⁣ Secrets that cost us everything to keep.⁣ That’s the novelty of fiction versus reality. You can’t re-live your own love story, because by the time you’ve realized you’re living it, it’s over. At least that was the case for me and the men I trusted my foolish heart to.⁣ Looking back, I’m convinced I willed my story into existence, due to my illness, and all were punished.”

The list I have is quite long, currently reading Lilac, this one is not for the faint of heart, it is spicy! Do you have any spicy book recommendations to share?